First Nations leaders urge 'bold' reforms on truth, treaty and closing the gap

Australia Broadcast Center

13-05-2025

The Albanese government must use its historic mandate and standing with the electorate to deliver the remaining reforms of the Uluru Statement, namely treaty and truth-telling, Indigenous leaders say.
Greens senator from Western Australia, Dorinda Cox, will reintroduce her bill for a Truth and Justice Commission later in the year.
She said she hoped federal Labor would support it.
"Labor do have the ability, it's only going to take courage," Senator Cox told the ABC's Indigenous Affairs Team.
"The failed Voice referendum meant that we needed to pivot into a new chapter, and truth-telling and treaty are the new chapter.
"If Labor is really serious about supporting First Nations rights … they will deliver on those issues.
"I hope they would be brave enough."
The 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart asked for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament enshrined in the constitution but also urged government to establish a Makarrata Commission for the purpose of truth-telling and treaty.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese committed to the Uluru Statement in full during his 2022 election victory speech, but after the failed Voice referendum said his government would go in "another direction".
Senator Cox said his government had "turned away" from those reforms.
"They should have that courage and leadership to complete that by backing our bill," she said.
The bill would establish a national body to investigate and put on the record historical and ongoing injustices against First Nations Australians.
With the Greens expected to hold the sole balance of power in the Senate, Ms Cox said Labor could not be "hiding behind the couch anymore and blaming crossbenchers and blaming the opposition for not being able to pass legislation that is progressive and delivers First Nations justice."
She said the proposed commission would seek a pathway for a federal treaty, something she said was more urgent since several states and territories abandoned treaty legislation.
On Friday, Marion Scrymgour, Labor's newly appointed special envoy for remote communities, told the ABC she was looking forward to speaking with the prime minister about progressing the remaining elements of the Uluru Statement.
While she "accepted" the prime minister had said he was "not going to go down that way", the Lingiari MP said she had heard calls for progress "loud and clear" from constituents in her large NT electorate.
"Our communities want healing," she said.
"They want to heal with this country and move forward,"
"And you know, if it means those two elements, particularly Makarrata, which came from the Yolŋu word in eastern Arnhem Land, we do need to heal this country and we do need to move forward.
"So I'm looking forward to having those conversations.
"I don't think we should shy away from them."
Australian National University Professor Peter Yu said the government's reluctance to recommit to the Uluru Statement had caused trust issues among the First Nations population.
"There's a vacuous situation, as it relates to the fundamental understanding and trust relationship between governments and Aboriginal people, given that the government has not made any commitments, in fact, has moved away from the remaining part of the Uluru Statement," he said.
"There is a great desire in the Aboriginal community for truth-telling and to move towards a more formal settlement of this, so that's a question of [being] bold, and I suppose courage and trust."
Professor Yu said Labor's historic win was an opportunity to "revamp the whole system" in Indigenous affairs.
"We should open ourselves up to the nature of possibilities."
Healing Foundation chief executive Shannan Dodson called for Labor to make a "concerted effort" to help Stolen Generations survivors.
"I hope that we can see some boldness in the decisions that are made," she said.
"Survivors are dying … we don't have time to waste."
The Yawuru woman said she was confident Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy understood the needs of Stolen Generations survivors, but she said "urgency" was key.
AIHW research shows Stolen Generations survivors' social and health outcomes are worse than the rest of the Aboriginal population, described as a "gap within a gap".
Ms Dodson's father, former social justice commissioner Mick Dodson, produced the Bringing Them Home report into stolen Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
The majority of those recommendations are yet to be fulfilled.
They include better access to records, culturally-safe aged care and redress schemes in the states that are yet to sign up, Queensland and Western Australia.
Ms Dodson said truth-telling ensured survivors' stories were not forgotten and aided healing.
"I think whatever that process might look like, truth-telling definitely is something is something we need to consider," she said.
Pat Turner, who has spent decades working with governments to improve the lives of First Nations people, said the returning Albanese government "can't rest on their laurels".
The lead convenor for the Coalition of Peaks and National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation chief executive was scathing about the Coalition's approach to Indigenous affairs.
"I'm really pleased that the Labor government has been returned," she told Bridget Brennan on ABC News Breakfast on Tuesday.
"The alternative was unthinkable for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people."
But as one of the architects of the Closing the Gap national agreement, she said she was putting the government on notice because "there is so much to be done".
Ms Turner said she wanted the federal government to take a stronger role in lifting the age of criminal responsibility, deliver needs-based funding to the community-controlled sector and finalise the Coalition of Peaks's economic development partnership with Treasury.
"Closing the Gap is every minister's responsibility, not just Malarndirri McCarthy's, it belongs to every minister in the federal cabinet," she said.